Unforgiven 2005
Unforgiven 2005 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the seventh annual Unforgiven event and took place on September 18, 2005 at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The event featured wrestlers and other talent that performed on the Raw program. To date, it is the only WWE pay-per-view event ever to be held in the state of Oklahoma. The main event was a standard wrestling match, in which Kurt Angle defeated WWE Champion John Cena, after Cena intentionally disqualified himself. In WWE, a championship cannot change hands via countout or disqualification, as a result, Cena retained the title. Two featured bouts on the undercard was another standard match, in which Shawn Michaels defeated Chris Masters. The other primary match was a steel cage match, where the ring is enclosed by a steel cage, in which Matt Hardy defeated Edge. Unforgiven grossed over $485,000 in ticket sales from an attendance of approximately 8,000, and received about 243,000 pay-per-view buys. This amount was higher than the following year's event. When the event was released on DVD, it reached a peak position of third on Billboard's DVD Sales Chart. Background Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card beforehand, which were planned with predetermined outcomes by WWE's script writers. The buildup to these matches and scenarios that took place before, during and after the event were also planned by the script writers. The event featured wrestlers and other talent from Raw's brand – a storyline expansion in which WWE assigned its employees. Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan favorite gimmick, as they followed a series of events which generally built tension, leading to a wrestling match. The main rivalry written into Unforgiven was between John Cena and Kurt Angle, who were competing for Cena's WWE Championship. At SummerSlam, Cena defeated Chris Jericho to retain the WWE Championship. A rematch was held on the August 22 episode of Raw, one of WWE's primary television programs, when authority figure Eric Bischoff, a portrayed match maker and rules enforcer, announced a match between Cena and Jericho in a "You're Fired" match, in which the loser would be fired. The match saw Cena win, and Bischoff was scripted to fire a pleading Jericho, who was carried out of the arena by security. This angle was written after WWE's official website confirmed that Jericho signed a short-term contract extension to stay with the company after his long-term contract expired, which presumably ended after his loss to Cena. Kurt Angle came down to the ring and attacked Cena by lifting Cena on his shoulders and spinning 90° to slam him down to the mat, a move Angle calls the Angle Slam. As Cena was down, Bischoff announced that Angle was the new contender for the WWE Championship, claiming that Jericho "couldn't get the job done". Angle continued his attacks on Cena before their scheduled match at Unforgiven. On the August 29 episode of Raw, Cena was scheduled in a Handicap match, a match where one wrestler or team of wrestlers face off against a team of wrestlers with numerical superiority such as two against one, or three against two. He faced Tyson Tomko and Angle. Cena won the match by pinning Tomko after lifting Tomko onto his shoulders and slamming him down to the mat. Afterwards, Angle assaulted Cena, which led to Angle being scripted to smash Cena's ankle across the ring post, thus giving Angle the advantage heading into Unforgiven. Another major rivalry heading into the event was between Shawn Michaels and Chris Masters. This feud began the night after SummerSlam, where Michaels lost a match to Hulk Hogan. Michaels admitted he fell victim to Hogan's leg drop, a move where Hogan drops his legs across the opponent's head or chest. He concluded that Hogan was the better man and it was time to get "back to reality". Mid-way through Michaels' speech, Masters interrupted him and informed Michaels that individuals like Hogan and Michaels did not know how to pass the torch to new wrestlers. Michaels went along with Masters' comments and warned Masters to not group him with Hogan. Masters concluded by stating that he was not "trying" to steal the spotlight from Michaels, but that he was going to "take it". Michaels responded by saying that he knew where Masters was coming from, which led to Michaels slapping Masters. The two then brawled, thus turning Michaels into an on-screen hero, as he had been a villain in rivalry between Hogan. On the September 5 episode of Raw, Michaels was involved in the Masterlock Challenge, a challenge where the wrestler must break free from Master's full Nelson submission hold, which he calls the Master Lock. Despite Michaels' best efforts, he could not break free. Upset at the vigorous resistance of Michaels, Masters released the hold and hit Michaels with a steel chair before re-applying the hold. The following week, Michaels issued a challenge to Masters at Unforgiven, in which he vowed to get revenge on Masters for his actions the previous week. The other predominant rivalry heading into the event was between Matt Hardy and Edge, a real life issue transformed into a storyline. At SummerSlam, Edge defeated Hardy after dropping him onto the top of a ring post. This was scripted to caused Hardy to bleed heavily, which forced the referee to end the match and declare Edge the winner because Hardy could not continue. The next night on Raw, Hardy had a match with Rob Conway, in which Conway pinned Hardy for the win. After the match, Edge attacked Hardy. On the August 29 episode of Raw, Edge and Hardy were scheduled to compete in a Street Fight, a match where there are no disqualifications, no countouts, and scoring conditions can occur anywhere in the arena. The match ended in a no-contest after Hardy and Edge brawled at the stage ramp. Hardy grabbed Edge by the side and threw both himself and Edge off the stage and into electrical equipment. Both Hardy and Edge laid motionless on the floor as sparks flew everywhere. Trainers and emergency medical technicians rushed to the scene and took both men away in ambulances for medical attention. The following week, Bischoff booked Hardy and Edge in a steel cage match at Unforgiven, where the ring would be enclosed by a steel cage. Following the announcement, Bischoff scheduled a match between Hardy and Snitsky, which Hardy lost. After the match, Snitsky threatened to hit Hardy with a ring bell but The Big Show came down. He was unable to stop Snitsky, and as a result, Snitsky succeeded in hitting Hardy with the bell. The preliminary rivalry heading into the event was between Ric Flair and Carlito, who were competing for Carlito's Intercontinental Championship. The feud started on the August 22 edition of Raw, when Flair appeared as a guest on Carlito's talk show segment Carlito's Cabana. Carlito brought up Flair's catchphrase (woo!) and said that it is not cool. He also brought up Flair's past matches with Carlito's father Carlos Colon in Puerto Rico and that he agreed with his father. Flair wasn't that great. Carlito also bragged about how Flair lost his World title 16 times but Carlito is a one time Intercontinental Champion. Flair fired back by insulting Carlito leading to Carlito spitting apple in his face before Flair retaliated by attacking Carlito and throwing him out of the ring. The following week, the rivalry escalated when Flair saved Shawn Michaels when he was double teamed by Carlito and Chris Masters on the Cabana. ''Later on that night, Flair was found unconscious and bloody before his tag team match with Michaels. He appeared during the match but was forced to submit by Masters's ''Master Lock. ''On the September 5 edition of ''Raw, Flair saved Ashley Massaro when she about to be spat on by Carlito during the Cabana. He attacked Carlito and threw him from the ring. The week before the event, Flair defeated Masters by using the Finger Four Leg-Lock. ''After the match, Carlito came down to the ring and he and Masters double teamed Flair until Shawn Michaels made the save, leading to the announcement that Carlito will defend the Intercontinental Championship against Flair at Unforgiven. The Divas rivalry heading into the event was between Ashley Massaro and the stable known as Vince's Devils. Massaro won the Diva Search on August 15, but on the following week's edition of ''Raw, she was attacked by Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle (who were traded to Raw) after they pretended to congratulate her, turning both Divas heel. After their villainous turns, Torrie and Candice aligned with Victoria to form Vince's Devils, and the trio spent weeks tormenting her, which included Massaro suffering a pair of losses to Victoria and Torrie. On the September 12 edition of Raw, Trish Stratus returned from injury and helped Massaro fight off the Devils, leading to the announcement that Torrie and Victoria would face Massaro and Stratus at Unforgiven. Results ; ; *Sunday Night Heat Match: Rob Conway defeated Tajiri (3:44) *Ric Flair defeated Carlito © to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship (11:46) *Ashley & Trish Stratus defeated Torrie Wilson & Victoria (7:05) *The Big Show defeated Snitsky (6:11) *Shelton Benjamin defeated Kerwin White (8:06) *Matt Hardy defeated Edge (w/ Lita) in a Steel Cage match (21:33) *Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch defeated Rosey & The Hurricane to become World Tag Team Champions (7:40) *Shawn Michaels defeated Chris Masters (16:44) *Kurt Angle defeated John Cena © via DQ in a WWE Championship match (17:15) Other on-screen talent See also *List of WWE pay-per-view events *WWE Event History *Unforgiven *Event gallery DVD release * Unforgiven 2005 on DVD External links * Unforgiven 2005 Official site * Unforgiven 2005 at CAGEMATCH.net * Unforgiven 2005 at Online World of Wrestling * on WWE Network Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2005 pay-per-view events Category:Events with Steel Cage matches